The ClarinetPages Forum

Dalton has this question:
My Granddaughter who is 11 plays clarinet and violin and was just given an old Conn wood clarinet that seems to be in decent condition.  It was reported owned by an orchestra leader  some time in the past.  Anyway the ser. No is:  446NB286969L        I was looking for any information about the model/facts I can find for her.   

Now Phil says: I was disappointed to find there is no Conn history at clarinetpages.net. Conn supplies good serial number information, but not about numbers like this one.

Any Conn experts out there?

I may be mistaken, but I think the 446 models came after the 424 and 444 supposedly used by Artie Shaw.  In those days, the model number was the first part of the serial number.

http://www.conn-selmer.com/en-us/about/customer-service/serial-numbers/conn/

https://cderksen.home.xs4all.nl/ConnNModels.html

That is the 7-ring Boehm professional Conn clarinet of that era (late 30s, early 40s). Clarinets by Conn are covered pretty well at Conn Loyalist and might not be included in Clarinet Pages because they are well documented and easily dated by the Conn Loyalist website. Clarinet Pages generally covers the more obscure brands that are not so well documented.

I prefer my vintage professional Conn clarinets over many many others. I use the 424N models that are from the same era as this 446N and I have found that these have better intonation than most other clarinets, particularly across the register bridge and on the lowest notes.

That is generally not considered a beginner model, but there is no reason why a beginner could not benefit from the features on a pro instrument. That 7th ring on the upper joint yields some fingering advantages over the 6-ring models. I don't have a Conn 7 ring, but I like that feature on one of my vintage Pedler clarinets.

A good mouthpiece match-up is the Conn Steelay Standard 5A hard rubber mouthpiece. These come up frequently on ebay.

That's a pretty snazzy clarinet for a middle schooler to use for beginner band. It could easily be a career instrument if maintained well.  :)